What you see through violet eyes
by Violets in Shadow
Summary: Imagine, a twoleg, as a warrior! Follow the story of Ivy Hill, a normal suburban girl, and Violetpaw, a gift from starclan, in a story set right after Outcast, as if eclipse never, or will never, happen.
1. Prolauge

* * *

Hollypaw- **Hey Lionpaw, it's time to do Violets in Shadow's disclaimer!**

_lionpaw walks out of the den like a lazy oaf_

Lionpaw- **Why can't you do it?**

Hollypaw- **We all have to do it! it won't be the same any other way!**

_she spoke with a snippity scarcasim_

_Violetpaw walks out of the den half asleep_

Violetpaw- **What's all the yelling about?**

Hollypaw- **It's time to do The disclaimer!**

_Jaypaw walks out of the medicine den lookig still asleep_

Lionpaw- **well we're all here, what do we do now?**

_he spoke frustrated_

Lionpaw- **hey! I was not frustrated, I'm tired**.

_don't mess with me_

Lionpaw-**what if I do?**

Hollypaw- **Ahhg, shut up Lionpaw!**

Violetpaw- **Violets in Shadow does not own warriors or any related merchandise, books or snippy comments. There I've said it. Lets go back to bed!**

Hollypaw- **_well_**.

Jaypaw-** I now understand my presense here was pointless, bye.**

_Jaypaw stalks out to the medicine den_

Violetpaw- **Read well!**

* * *

**What you see through violet eyes**

"Ouch!" screamed my cousin Amy, lying dirty on the ground.

"Amy,**"** I ran and scooped her up in my arms **"**you know you're not supposed to climb on the statue.**"**

As I was washing the dirt off her hands and feet with the garden hose a familiar thought resurfaced in my head. _Why on earth would my parents buy an abstract metal statue? The rest of our home is tasteful. I just hope mom gets rid of it since dad moved into a small beige apartment I have to visit every Thursday._

"Ivy, can I ask you something?**"** asked Amy as I was rinsing her feet. Amy had a habit of asking if she could ask something before she asked it, although she never waited for an answer.

"Have you ever been home alone before?**"**

"Of course I have, I'm thirteen and babysitting you." I replied.

I expected this question. All the younger cousins ask it. Their parents are super protective, and never let them out of their sight without a babysitter. They can't wait until they turn twelve and can finally be left alone.

"Hello?" I heard my uncle David open the door before he started talking. I always had very good hearing and eyesight. Oddly I also could tell apart peoples smells.

"I'm here, outside." I placed Amy on the floor inside so she could run to him. I followed her to the front door.

"I'll be back with Amanda and Amy next time. So your free tomorrow?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm free." I told him as he walked out the door. He turned his head the side to tell me that he heard me before he let the door shut. I walked to the other room plopped on the couch then switched on the television. However, I couldn't stop staring at the statue. I turned off the T.V and went outside.

I walked up to the statue and stared at it. The statue was made of bumpy, slightly shiny metal, which made it a perfect jungle gym. It had over thirty large loops in it, each big enough for a full grown man to fit through. _Who made this?_

As I was pondering Marigold, my cat, came and brushed my legs. I picked her out because of her gorgeous fur and dazzling eyes. Her fur was mostly black, speckled thickly with small, rough rectangle shaped spots of gold and orange half the size of my thumb. Her eyes were dull yellow and had a glint to them.

_Why are you here, you don't fit in?_ I thought to myself about the statue._ I used to love you as a kid because you were different, and both my parents loved you. Now you represent what used to be, a black box with trinkets in it, one loving family, the leopards at the zoo and the fire of hope_.

Suddenly I was drawn to my childhood of loving and climbing on this shiny statue, so I started to climb on it. When I was little I loved to climb on the loops, and go through them. There was this bigger loop in the middle that was always my favorite. I went through all of the loops except the one in the center. So I darted through and every thing turned black.

When I woke up, about a hundred cats were staring down at me, and one little grey one, with bright blue eyes, was touching me with it's paw. I could hear them talking and understand them. I was too scared to scream, and paralyzed with fear and shock. The cats were all different colors and sizes, and clumped together in groups. Some groups were entirely small cats; other groups had distinctions as well.

Eight were in a tree, four in the branches, and four in the roots. I looked down at my hands, but they weren't hands, they were black, furry paws. I nearly fainted, but the little grey cat stopped me by interrupting my thoughts.

"She's alive." said the little grey cat.


	2. Chapter 1

Then I screamed

_Then_ I screamed.

"Shhhh," said the little grey cat "the leaders want to talk to you."

"Hello," began an orange cat in the branches of a big tree "my name is Firestar, leader of Thunderclan. Who are you?"

I was about to say Ivy Hill, my real name, but I realized I was no longer Ivy, I was a cat, and I didn't know who I was. I was no longer myself; I was now a cat, here and now, so I responded.

"I don't know. Where am I?" A collective gasp was unleashed by all the cats around me.

"You see! I told you she doesn't belong; she doesn't even know who we are! She's probably just a kittypet who fell down as she was spying on us!" yowled and angry white cat with black paws perched in the tree with Firestar.

"Hey, sitting right here!" I yowled. I meant to yell it but it came out as a meow.

"Calm yourself Blackstar," said a spotted cat that looked like a leopard, also in the tree "she probably wasn't meant to know. We all know what we saw, she didn't fall" she paused to glare at Blackstar.

"Hello little cat," she turned her attention to me "I'm Leopardstar, leader of Riverclan. There are four clans. Riverclan, Thunderclan, Windclan, and Shadowclan are their names. You've already met two of the leaders. That ones Onestar leader of Windclan," she pointed to a brown tabby cat with her tail. Then she pointed to the white cat with black paws "and that's Blackstar leader of Shadowclan. These are the clans of the forest."

Then she went on talking about territories and borders, warriors and apprentices, and a lot of other things.

"I certainly won't take her into my clan." said Blackstar. To tell you the truth I was kind of relieved, he didn't seem very nice.

"Thunderclan with take this gift from Starclan." So I was to be a Thunderclan cat. Still I was nameless.

"No Riverclan will take her!" yowled Leopardstar in protest. So I was to be a Riverclan cat. Still I was nameless.

"No Windclan will take her!" countered Onestar. So I was to be a Windclan cat. Still I was nameless, and slightly disappointed. I wanted to be a Thunderclan cat.

"Just give this rouge," chipped in Blackstar "to the clan of kittypets." His expression turned very smug. Firestar began to bristle.

"May I speak?" said a big tabby cat. Firestar nodded his approval.

"Let's let her choose. That way she wouldn't be disappointed, and we wouldn't start a fight in front of Starclan." All the leaders nodded. Then the tabby turned to me.

"Which clan do you want to belong to?" he asked me very formally.

"Thunderclan." I immediately blurted out.

"So shall it be." said Firestar "Welcome to Thunderclan."

"One last detail, what will my name be?" I asked loudly as flowing with attitude as he finished talking, a little too loudly.

He thought for a moment "We will have your apprentice ceremony at camp tonight. Then you will get your name." replied Firestar.

"Then this gathering is over." yowled Leopardstar. She was obviously annoyed that I didn't choose Riverclan. She and leaders jumped out of the tree. As soon as the crowd started moving, suddenly I was swarmed with question from cats my size. They all smelled the same, so I assumed they were all from one clan.

"Back off!" yelled a black cat with green eyes about my size with the same scent. All the cats walked over to a fallen tree; accept the black cat that then turned to me.

"Hi, I'm Hollypaw. I'm a Thunderclan apprentice, like you. You seem about apprentice age, are you six moons?" She said as we walked to the tree. I was more stumbling; four paws are _not_ easy to get used to.

"Moons?" I asked confused.

"Oh, right you don't know yet." Hollypaw replied embarrassed, touching her nose to her chest. I tried to climb over the roots, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Hollypaw sensed my frustration and demonstrated, sticking out her claws and digging them into the rotting bark. I copied.

"What do I look like?" I asked her as we climbed over. I had been so curious, but I was afraid to ask the leaders, well not really, but I ran out of time.

"What? You don't know what you look like, oh! Right sorry, well, you have black fur, like mine, and bright purple eyes, like violets." She replied, apparently surprised.

I saw Firestar's ears prick up in front of us walking at the head of the group, next to the tabby who had spoken, but thought nothing of it. I was happy with this description. I sounded pretty. So I proudly showed that emotion on my face.

Pretty soon we had walked past open moors and into forest, always sticking close to a lake while in the moors, but we walked away from the lake when we hit the forest, so I assumed this was our territory. I tripped and fell a lot, but Hollypaw was always there to help me up. Soon we came up on a bush of thorns we weren't avoiding; I guess I looked confused, because Hollypaw told me why we were going through it.

"That's the camp, just through here." She said as we both pushed our way in. The first thought that came into my head was, _we're in a quarry! _I used to play in the abandoned quarry near my house, until, the accident. A rock fell and broke my leg. When I healed I wanted to go back and play, but my parents said it was too dangerous.

_This is so cool!_ I thought as I stumbled in, still not used to walking on four paws. There were a lot of cats, less than the gathering, but I guess some were under the bushes or, in a cave apparently.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the Highlege for a clan meeting." Cats started pouring out from the bushes around the camp.

"Here, come and sit by me!" said Hollypaw, motioning to sit on the ground next to her. I found it hard to figure out how to sit but I finally got the hang of it. Once most every cat was in the clearing sitting down well away from me and Hollypaw, and staring at me, Firestar began to speak.

"It is time to welcome a new apprentice into the clan. Before you say anything, she's not a kittypet, or a rouge. She's a gift from starclan sent to us during the gathering. Nameless cat,"

He turned to me

"From now on you shall be known as," that was the longest second ever "Violetpaw." Hollypaw laid her tail on my shoulders, a happy look on her face.

_Yeah, I got a cool name!_ I thought to myself, I lashed my new tail side to side happily. Turns out Firestar had been listening to Hollypaw as she described me.

"Brambleclaw, you're ready for another apprentice, you will mentor Violetpaw." My eyes got really wide because I had no idea who that was. Firestar pointed his head, sympathetically, toward that tabby who spoke at the gathering. Hollypaw nudged my shoulder.

"Go touch noses with him!" said Hollypaw.

"What!" I whispered "I don't know him!"

"Just touch your nose to his quickly, and then sit by him until the end of the meeting. Then wait for directions." She whispered as she pushed me in his direction.

I walked up to him slowly, lightly (almost missing) touched my nose to his for a nanosecond, then pulled away and sat next to him. Touching noses was a custom I wasn't used to. After the meeting was over Brambleclaw turned to me.

"We should start training tomorrow, it's a little late. Hollypaw will find you a spot in the apprentices den." Then he turned and walked into a big bush.

I ran back to Hollypaw. Then she stared walking towards a cave in the wall of the camp, so I followed. There were many little beds made out of moss and other soft stuff from the forest.

Hollypaw pointed to one of the nests with her tail, I new that was my bed. I watched Hollypaw curl up with her tail over her nose, so I copied her and soon drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

My eyes were still closed, and I hadn't moved from the den, but I could tell I wasn't there

I opened my eyes and I was climbing out the loop in the middle of the statue. I was shocked. I was human. So I climbed back through it on the other side and everything went black again. When I woke up I was in my nest, as a cat, in the apprentices den. I could swear I wasn't gone for thirty seconds, but it seemed all the other apprentices were getting up, so it was morning.

Then I figured it out. Every time I went to sleep here, I would come back through the loop in the statue. Every time I went through the loop, no matter how much time had actually passed, it would be when I woke up the next day in the clan. Something happened where I could jump from one world to the next. I just hope that no time elapses as I'm here.

"Hey, come on Brambleclaw wants to show you the territory. Brackenfur's taking me hunting, come on get up!" Hollypaw yelled in my ear and she poked my shoulder with her paw.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I yelled back as I got to my paws. Then we both walked into the clearing. Hollypaw sat down next to pile of something, so I sat down too. Then I looked at the pile, it was made of dead mice and birds, so I backed away a step. I was horrified. I didn't know what the cats ate, but I was hoping it wasn't this.

"Come have some breakfast, Violetpaw." said Hollypaw.

"No, thanks I'm not hungry." I replied. I was _not_ eating raw woodland animal.

"You will be, come on." She countered.

"No, I'm fine." I replied. _Raw meat_.

"Suit yourself." She said before devouring a mouse. I had to close my eyes when everyone ate.

"You ready to go." I spotted Brambleclaw walking away from some older cats.

"Yeah, let's go." I said before he led me out of camp and all through the forest. He showed me a lot of places all through the forest. Then we came on a big tree. I looked it up and down, and before I knew it my claws were out and I was running to it. I ran up it and made it to the top in a matter of seconds.

"That was an impressive climb, now get back down here!" He yelled at me from the ground. I shimmied down to the lowest branch and jumped, landing on all four paws. I was getting the hang of being a cat.

After that we went to a clearing in the trees.

"This is the training hollow. Where we practice battle moves." He told me. Then we went to the borders and recognized where they were. I regretted not eating, but remembered it was raw animal. But I decided I would eat it, no matter how disgusting. Then we went back to camp. I saw Hollypaw by the pile of food.

"Hey, Hollypaw, what do you suggest eating?" I asked her.

"Well the fresh-kill pile usually has mouse in it," _so that's what they call it, the fresh-kill pile_ I thought to myself as she paused "so I suggest a mouse." She got a plump mouse from the pile and handed it to me.

I closed my eyes and hesitantly took a bite. It was fantastic. I expected it to taste raw, bloody and bad, but it tasted great. I guess it was because I was a cat and it tasted like something I would eat.

"Hey, Violetpaw," Brambleclaw called "You and Hollypaw should clean out the elders bedding." He was sitting next to a gold tom; I assumed it was Hollypaw's mentor, Brackenfur. Hollypaw and I had finished eating, but I still had bones and fur in front of me.

"Hey Hollypaw," I asked "what do I do with the bones?"

"Bury them and pray to starclan in thanks for your meal." She replied. We both did so and then went to a cave in a wall.

"Finally, we can have some good bedding now!" yelled a wiry brown she-cat.

"What do I do?" I whispered to Hollypaw.

"Take out the soiled bedding, and then we go get some new moss." She whispered back.

"So this _gift from starclan_ has no Idea how to be a clan cat. On top of that there's another annoying apprentice to deal with." A, rather young, tomcat was sitting in the cave. He seemed to be staring at nothing. I apparently looked puzzled, because when I and Hollypaw were out of camp getting new moss, she told me about him.

"His name's Longtail, and he's blind." She told me.

"He seems to be kind of young to be an elder." I told Hollypaw.

"He got blinded as a warrior, so he had to become and elder early." I hadn't realized it earlier, but being a warrior was a deathly duty. I could be blinded like unfortunate Longtail, or be killed. I thought of all the things I've seen a cat hurt by, cars, traps, even humans. But I would look past that. I gathered all my courage and reason. I_ would_ be a warrior. Then it struck me.

"How was he blinded?" I asked. I stared at Hollypaw she looked from rock to rock. I didn't notice we had walked this far.

"In battle," She replied,as if it was a thing to be spoken of mildly.

"Battle? With who?" I asked. Did the clans fight like wild animals? Or was it something else?

"I can't remember what clan it was. He tells the story so many times; I finally had to let it go in one ear and out the other. It was a clan, maybe Riverclan? Well, it's not of importance now," She meowed, grabbing and pulling some moss, "I believe you should do the same."

I scanned the rocks for a second, trying to find some moss. Suddenly a fait yelp came from my left.

"What was that?" I asked Hollypaw.

Hollypaw flicked her tail toward the sound, "Sounds like battle training to me, want to check it out?"

I nodded and followed Hollypaw to the training hollow. About halfway there, I felt something around me. Hollypaw just stared forward. I sighed, dropping back. It was just a woodland animal, and I'm not used to the forest yet. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a mass of orange charge at me. I suddenly was tossed over and couldn't move.

"_Do you mind?"_ I yelled, fighting for breath against the force of its paw on my throat. The orange mass was a cat. A tom cat, who was very heavy. One paw was on my throat, and the other was on my flanks. I don't like it when some one touches the lower half of me. Human or cat, it was still rude.

"Lionpaw! What do you think your doing?" Hollypaw's voice rang out through the dense trees. The tom cat stared at me. His gaze went right through me, with hate and something else. Confusion?

"Saving your life from this-"

"Lionpaw, what are you doing?" I barely see a sandy figure move close to me.

"I was saving Hollypaw from this- this cat, Sandstorm," Lionpaw began, spitting the word cat, "I don't know how you couldn't smell her; really Hollypaw."

"Lionpaw, _release." he wasn't moveing _ "Remove yourself at once! This is the new Thunderclan apprentice," Sandstorm meowed harshly. _Why isn't he getting off, _I thought

"What new apprentice?" he yowled back. _Still on me._

"The one we made last night, don't tell me you slept through it." She replied angry. _He's __**still**_ _on me._

Lionpaw looked down at me, something shown in his eyes, similar to the gaze before but something was different. Then I felt someone jump over me, and then his weight lifted off with a thud on the ground. I gasped for air.

"Ugh! What was that for?" Lionpaw hissed somewhere near my tail.

"Well, you weren't getting off her yourself," A hazy voice meowed close to Lionpaw.

"Cinderpaw, I don't believe that was very proper," A deep voiced tom meowed moving closer. Hollypaw padded to me and helped me up.

"Sorry you had to meet everyone like this," she meowed looking around me. Multiple Cats stared at me. Sandstorm, Lionpaw, the cinder-colored apprentice named Cinderpaw, and about six other cats.

"Thanks for knocking him off me, Cinderpaw," I nodded and Lionpaw scowled. I don't know why, but that made a sly smiled creep across my face.

"I'm Sandstorm," the sandy she-cat stepped toward me, "This is Squirrelflight, Cloudtail, Whitewing, Foxpaw, Icepaw and Honeypaw." Sandstorm pointed her tail toward each cat as she said their name, all doing a quick nod.

"Hi," I managed to croak. I smell something moving toward us. Cats. An ash-colored tom bursts through the bushes, three other cats following him.

"What was all the noise?" The ash-colored tom asked staring at us.

"Lionpaw pinned me down for a heart-filled greeting," I meowed sarcastically; my eyes wondered over to the tom. He seemed that his pride been hurt, yet a flicker a power burned in his eyes. He didn't seem hurt easily.

"Lionpaw, was that necessary?" The ash tom meowed staring Lionpaw down.

"I'm sorry Ashfur, I didn't know she was Thunderclan," he meowed not sounding at all sorry.

"You slept through the ceremony, didn't you?" Ashfur asked him, but it more like telling him.

"Ashfur is Lionpaw's mentor," Hollypaw whispered to me.

The fiery she-cat, Squirrelflight, with many of Sandstorm's qualities stepped forward. She must be Sandstorm's daughter, "I think we should get back to camp now."

The cats that arrived with Sandstorm headed back to camp. Hollypaw and I picked up our moss and followed. We stayed a few paces behind Sandstorm's group.

"Did Lionpaw hurt you at all?" Hollypaw asked.

"No, but I think I hurt his pride," I smiled.

Hollypaw smiled back, "Lionpaw has to be put in his place sometimes. He can really be a pain, yet he's still my brother."

"Brother?" I meowed astonished.

"Yeah, I'll tell you at camp," she said running toward camp. I shook my head and followed.


	4. Chapter 3

I felt the cold smooth metal against my hand. My right foot landed on the grass. I was out of the loop. I wiggled a little. Two legs were defiantly different from four paws. For that matter, walking on four paws was hard till you got the hang of it. _I shall never use the term 'so dumb they should be walking on all fours'._

"Ivy! I do believe you have payment coming toward you today!" Uncle David called. I sighed, back to my pitiful human life.

Uncle David gave me five dollars. I stuffed the money into my pocket. I walk down the street thinking of Thunderclan, the forest, Lionpaw, Sandstorm-

"Ugh!" someone coughs.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to run into you!" I said looking at the ground. _Is it just me or does colliding with boys a common thing? _ I thought remembering Lionpaw.

"Hey, It's ok, I should have been watching, I'm sorry," The boy laughs. _Why couldn't Lionpaw do that? _ I shake my head. _You're in the _human_ world stop thinking about it,_ I tell myself.

"Still I'm sorry," I mutter, looking up at the boy. I'd never seen him before. He had grey eyes, and slightly waving, chin length, crow black hair.

"Well see ya," the boy walked past me waving the back of his hand. _Weird. _I continued down the street letting my thoughts of the upcoming school year leak into, and take over my thoughts.

I walked to my best friend Shania's house. She was the first one to talk to me when I went to middle school, and we became fast friends. She has light tan skin and dark red hair. She helped me through school so I could fit in._ Come_ _to think of it she's a lot like Hollypaw_ I thought as I walked home.

I tossed and turned in my bed. I'd already planned how I has going to get to the loop without my mother asking. She'd say something like, 'why do you want to go out? You've never… blah, blah, blah' and I'd say I wanted to stare at the clouds. She'd buy that. I _always_ stare at the clouds. I closed my eyes letting my mind drift. All the emotions from that day swirled in my head. I let it take me over.

I blinked. I was in the Thunderclan camp, standing where the fresh-kill pile would have been. But something's different; the camp is surrounded by a tall barrier of thorns. Nothing moves, no voices or familiar smells reach me. Hollypaw's lying next to me. The clan world seemed have to paused itself. Even the cat on guard wasn't moving. I looked down at my paws, I was in cat form. It didn't make any sense, _why am I here? _

"Welcome, Violetpaw," a tom stepped out of no where. His pelt was the color of autumn leaves, he had huge white paws, and stars weaved through his fur.

"I'm dead," I said as I panicked. I was with Starclan. Leopardstar said they ruled under Starclan, where dead warriors go to live in peace. A cat heaven.

"No, no, you're not dead. We just want to talk to you. As we do with leaders and medicine cats," The great tom stepped toward me. I felt a jingle; like Christmas bells, but you feel it, not hear it.

"I am Thunderstar, the founder of Thunderclan. You have been given a gift which you must not misuse. You can't take any twoleg through the portal, it's not possible. You must tell no one of the power,"

"Can't I tell Hollypaw?" I plead.

"You already did."

I turned around to see Hollypaw standing there smiling. She must have woken up while I was talking.

"Hollypaw shall be your silent mentor in the cat world. She shall show you how to speak as we do, eat, live and breathe as a cat does," Thunderstar's strong voice calls from behind me.

I stared at her happily, "Did Starclan tell you?"

"I didn't know till now," Hollypaw looked at Thunderstar behind me. Her eyes pleaded a question. She stared at him hopefully. It was as if they were having a conversation through their eyes. Hollypaw jumped happily and padded toward me. She gracefully touched my nose has I did with Brambleclaw, except more confidently.

I felt a pain grasp me till it soothed to a genital flow of knowledge. I knew everything Hollypaw knew that second. I knew of her heritage, Lionpaw and Heatherpaw's secrete relationship, the water-filled tunnels, being a medicine cat, the tribe, everything. But I still didn't know how to be a clan cat. She stepped away smiling.

"Now you and Hollypaw share the same knowledge, you know what she knows, and she knows what you know. Some details, she has to teach you personally." Thunderstar meowed.

"Why am I surrounded by thorns?" I asked Thunderstar.

"These are to keep trespassers out of your dreams." He replied.

"Who could trespass in my dreams?" I asked, very confused.

"Look over the edge." As he said that, the ground rose until me and Hollypaw could see over the edge. We both looked over to see the grey cat that had woken me, at my first gathering as a cat, clawing at the thorns blindly. I had learned he was blind, but not his name.

"Jaypaw!" yelled Hollypaw "go away! Stop getting in other people's dreams!"

"Well not like I could hear anything, with these thorns." Jaypaw yelled back.

"Go away!" yelled Hollypaw. Jaypaw snarled, and then padded away.

The ground then began to sink. Then Thunderstar stood next to Hollypaw, silently having a conversation with her.

I could feel his breath. It was like frost, falling gently and silently reaching me, slowly covering me, yet cold, but not bitter. It was filled with memories and emotions; the horrible times and the great times, the love and the lost. His breath was so real, but it can't be. _The dead don't breathe_, I told myself. He turned and smiled.

"The dead do breath, in Starclan." He told me, reading my thoughts.

Hollypaw faded away. I jumped forward to where Hollypaw had been but only to find myself falling deeper into sleep.

I woke that morning grinning like an idiot. Starclan had really come to me in a dream! I hurried to get on my clothing and go outside. I headed for the statue, its winds and loops overwhelming and calming. I find my loop and stepped through.


	5. Chapter 4

I felt sun grip my pelt. My eyes slowly welcomed the new morning. I looked to where Hollypaw slept beside me. She breathed in a rhythm, scarcely making a sound. I got up careful not to awaken her. I looked up out to the sky. The sun barely stretched any higher then the trees around me. We slept where I had the meeting with Thunderstar; in the middle of the clearing.

No other cat was in the clearing. I walked around getting used to my paws again. A soft pat came from the apprentice den. Lionpaw stopped and stared at me and Hollypaw. He gave a small snort and angrily made his way to the exit.

"Good morning to you too," I meowed sarcastically. Lionpaw stopped half-way out.

"Morning," He hissed and ran out. I stared around camp. Honeypaw padded out of the apprentice den.

"Good morning!" I meowed hoping she'd be kind enough to even say good morning.

"Yes, good morning. Um, do you mind me asking why Hollypaw is sleeping in the clearing?" Honeypaw meowed staring at Hollypaw.

"She- uh, she started sleep walking last night out of the apprentice den and fell asleep here." I meowed quickly.

"Oh, that's ok. Want to go hunting?" Honeypaw said looking at where the fresh-kill pile should be. I guess it was gone, not only in the dream, but in real life too.

"Yeah." I replied happily. Hollypaw and Brambleclaw had taught me how to hunt. We both asked our mentors, who gave us permission.

"I'm coming too."

I turned to see the voice was from a long-haired cream tom. He seemed strong and prideful. I turned to Honeypaw, whose eyes had become wide with fear and love.

"Oh- Ok, um B-Berrynose," she muttered.

"We're going towards the upper Shadowclan border," Berrynose commanded. I did not like Berrynose from the second he said anything! He acted like his was superior to us. Well, he is a warrior, but a young warrior, he didn't have the right to be vain, and to order us around all the time. Berrynose ran toward the exit and Honeypaw and I followed.

The sun fell through the leaves; falling from one leaf to the other. The sweet early morning dew sat silently on the grass. My paws stepped quietly through the dew-stained grass. Berrynose stopped and Honeypaw ran into him. I was able to stop before I ran into Honeypaw.

"A good warrior always watches where he's going!" Berrynose yelled.

"You want to frighten all the prey for a mile?" I yelled back. Berrynose looked angry at first, and then he looked confused.

_Crap, I used a human word!_ I thought, panicking to myself.

"Um, I mean in the territory!" I added quickly. He went back to looking angry again.

"Respect your superiors!" he countered, puffing up his chest, looking smug.

"Does that mean all my superiors are idiots?" I was_ ticked off_. This random warrior seemed to think he was so special, although he didn't seem that old.

"Um," interrupted Honeypaw.

"Split up." yowled Berrynose angrily as he sped off. _Blah, blah, blah, gosh give me a break Berrynose_ I thought as I stalked off. Hollypaw had taught me how to taste the air for prey, so I didn't seem like an idiot in front of my mentor.

I tasted mouse to my left so I dropped into the hunters crouch which Brambleclaw taught me after he showed me the forest. I laid each paw down silently, until I was in pouncing range. I leapt in the air, but hit something hard. I looked to see Honeypaw lying next to me. The mouse had already scampered off.

"Honeypaw, I almost had my first kill!" I yelled. But before she could reply we heard a painful yowling coming from the direction Berrynose had run off to. I immediately started running, leaving Honeypaw a good ten tail lengths behind me.

I found Berrynose flailing on the ground, with his paw caught in a trap.

"Do something!" he yowled at me, but I just froze. I had no idea what to do.

Then Honeypaw came running from behind me, then started digging up the wood stake the trap was attached to. Then she pried the trap open, and set Berrynose free. I was still frozen.

"You mouse-brained idiot," he spat at me as Honeypaw helped him up "you just sat there when I could have lost my paw like I lost part of my tail!" I had just noticed he had a somewhat shorter tail then everyone else's. I just sat there as Honeypaw carried him to camp.

From then on Berrynose hated me. But he started paying attention to Honeypaw. They would sit together, eat together, and walk together with their pelts brushing. Finally, Berrynose loved Honeypaw back.

"Ok, pretend Lionpaw is Shadowclan." Brambleclaw instructed. We were at the training hollow. I ran at Lionpaw. After a couple of moves with my front paws as the main weapon, I had Lionpaw pinned down.

"Great use of your front paws." said Ashfur as I let Lionpaw up. I wasn't used to praise. I felt like every one expected me to fail. I wasn't born here, so I wasn't well accepted. I had battle trained and hunted so well, Firestar said I would be a warrior at the same time as Hollypaw and Lionpaw. I saw Honeypaw run past the hollow chasing a squirrel.

She seemed to be happier than ever, now that she had Berrynose.

When we got back to camp Firestar called a meeting, it was Cinderpaw, Honeypaw and Poppypaw's warrior ceremony. He had called them to come and sit in front of high ledge with him. A huge crowd of mentors, warriors and apprentices swarmed around them.

"Cloudtail, is Cinderpaw ready to become a warrior?" asked Firestar.

"More than ready." replied Cloudtail. I couldn't see them but I could hear them perfectly. After he had asked the other mentor, Thornclaw he addressed the two apprentices.

"I, Firestar, leader of Thunderclan, called upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these three apprentices." he began the ceremony "They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Cinderpaw, Honeypaw and Poppypaw, do promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this clan, even at cost of your lives?" he asked them.

"I do!" they both said excitedly in unison.

"Cinderpaw you will now be known as Cinderfur. Starclan honors your bravery and diligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan." There was a pause, and then Firestar named Poppypaw, Poppycloud and Honeypaw Honeypelt.

"Cinderfur! Poppycloud! Honeypelt!" could be heard through out the clearing. Me and Hollypaw joined in, and Berrynose cheered loudest of all.

Suddenly Lionpaw came and sat on the other side of Hollypaw. _That was certainly abnormal,_ I thought still chanting.

Three moons had passed in clan world, and one month in human world. In human world Leo began to be friendlier towards me. He even let me borrow a pencil!

One clan day, at about sunhigh I heard Leafpool talking to Honeypelt.

"You should probably move into the nursery. You're kits are due soon." Leafpool looked a bit uneasy. Honeypelt was pregnant! That was certainly unexpected. She'd just been a warrior for three moons. _She must have been pregnant at her ceremony_ I thought to myself.

_Honeypelt was just an inexperienced warrior; she isn't emotionally ready for kits. Plus her body might not be ready either; who I am kidding of course, she's ready._ I thought as Honeypelt walked into the nursery, greeted by Wingkit and Streamkit, Millie's silver-grey and dark-grey daughters.

That day as human was tough. I found it hard to concentrate. I kept staring at Leo. He seemed to be stepping out of the shadow his friends put him under. He was hanging out with them less, and less. I was now drawn to him even more.

When I went back to the clan's world I was greeted with bad news.

"What do you mean she's dead?" I yelled at Hollypaw.

"She died in the night after having her three kits." Hollypaw replied sadly. Me and Honeypelt weren't the closest friends, but we were still friends. I couldn't grasp that she was dead. I expected her to walk out of the nursery and say hi.

Daisy sadly walked up to our group of mourners, we all were close to Honeypelt. We were made up of me, Hollypaw, Sandstorm (her mentor), Sorreltail (her mother), Cinderfur and Poppycloud. Berrynose was in the nursery, watching over the kits.

"Millie is nursing the kits. They came early. One is whitish cream with blue eyes, her name is Hollowkit. One is reddish cream with grey eyes, his name is Tanglekit. The third is bluish grey with bright blue eyes, her name is Sleepkit." She told all of us.

"Who named them?" asked Sorreltail.

"Berrynose and Me." Replied Daisy softly.

"There's something you should know, about Sleepkit." She told us all. We all looked at her quickly.

"She can't hear that well." Everyone hung their heads. More tragedy.

I saw Berrynose walking out of the nursery, to the place where Honeypelt was buried. I pitied him, for the first time I showed some emotion other than annoyance and hate toward him.

I asked him to go hunting, and oddly he accepted. We were at the Windclan border.

"Go hunt over there." he motioned him tail towards Shadowclan territory.

"But," I knew I wasn't supposed to.

"Brambleclaw told me to tell you too. Now go." He pushed me over the border. I felt booms coming from him, like big drums. I thought, _he must be putting his paws down hard._ I found a mouse and stalked it. Before I had it I heard a yowl from the Thunderclan side of the border. It was Brambleclaw.

I then realized Berrynose lied to me. The booms meant lies. I pelted across the border so fast I thought my fur would fly off in the wind I was making.

"What were you thinking!" he yowled angrily at me. I shrunk back. I should have seen that coming. I had trusted Berrynose, if only for a sort period. No more trust. No more lies. _No one lies to me anymore, _I thought determined.

"Berrynose told me too."

"You should have known better!" I was insanely ashamed. He didn't punish me, since I was sort of new, but I felt punished inside.

The day as a human was filled with Leo ignoring me, a student moving to another state, and her boyfriend crying. _Whoa, that's weird. It's exactly the same_ I though during social studies class. Lionpaw was ignoring me more than usual, and Berrynose did look like he was crying a lot. I was more sad about Lionpaw and Leo though. They both seemed to have snapped back to normal, much to my dismay.

The next clan day Berrynose glared at me and snarled at me every time he saw me. It was as if he blamed _me_ for Honeypelt's death.

When I went back through the loop, I wasn't in the Thunderclan camp. I smelled Windclan around me. I opened my eyes to find myself in an unfamiliar open, clearing. Warriors and apprentices were sitting away from me, staring at me. They were all small and muscular. I was in Windclan's camp.

* * *

**oooo, what done happened? I know ha ha ha ha ha. I'm enjoying your pain. I hate Berrynose, but I knida feel sorry for him. Go figure.**


	6. Chapter 5

"How could you do this?" Yelled an ash colored she-cat. Two cats had started to argue about me. This is how I ended up in the Windclan camp:

First, Berrynose hated me. That I knew from the start. But his hate for me flew off the charts when Honeypaw died. Somehow his thoughts twisted to where it was my fault. He wanted me out of the clan. Then he came to Windclan. He met Tornear, a tabby tom, on a hunting trip. They talked over the border. He convinced Tornear that I belonged in Windclan.

Tornear then rallied the clan behind Onestar, and Ashfoot, the deputy's backs. He had almost the whole clan on his side. Then they planned the attack over the border. Berrynose made sure he was on guard duty last night. He let Tornear and a few others come into the camp with theirs scents disguised. Then, while the others kept the apprentices quiet, Tornear dragged me out of camp.

I didn't wake up, because I am a very heavy sleeper, even as a cat. He and another cat carried me out of camp and over the border. After I was a fair distance from camp Berrynose raised the alarm. All the cats ran away to fast for anyone to catch them.

They were over the border before anyone could catch their scent. Berrynose seemed innocent, because he said they were disguise and the apprentices didn't say anything. It wasn't until they ran out of camp with me, did he detect them. That was his excuse. I would rat him out when I got back to camp. But Firestar wouldn't believe me over Berrynose, and I was asleep the whole time, I may have heard the story wrong. But I would tell Hollypaw. She would know what to do.

"How could you steal her!" yowled Ashfoot.

"I had to, she belongs here!" yowled the tabby tom that was Tornear.

"We're sending her back!" demanded Ashfoot.

"No we're not!" countered Tornear.

"Hey!" I yowled loudest of all.

"What?" they both yelled in unison.

"I'm not staying here. So don't try to decide what I do. I can decide for myself. Thunderclan is my home. I will never be a Windclan apprentice, ever. So don't tell me what I'll do." I yowled across the camp.

_**No one** who doesn't control me tells me what to do. I can do what I want. I'm leaving and that's that_. I headed for an exit, but was stopped by two Windclan warriors. One was a ginger tom with white paws; one was a brown and white tom. Then they blocked me in every direction.

"Weaselfur, Harespring, move!" meowed Ashfoot "You're free to go." She directed her attention to me "Heatherpaw and Crowfeather will take you to the border." A thin black tom, and a brown she-cat with blue eyes stepped forward. The two toms did not move.

"We can't just take her back. We have to explain ourselves to Thunderclan." meowed the brown and white tom. He clearly wasn't used to speaking out against the deputy.

Ashfoot though a moment, then addressed the whole clan.

"Your right," meowed Ashfoot sadly "but not because she belongs here. I can't believe you all would go behind me and Onestar, and cause tension on the Thunderclan border. An unnecessary battle may be fought over this." She yowled to all the cats who hung their heads in shame.

"Over what?" asked Onestar as he entered the camp. He had four other cats with him so assumed he was on Dawn patrol.

"Tornear and some other warriors snuck into the Thunderclan camp and stole Violetpaw." She motioned with her head to where I sat.

"Hi." I added to the conversation, shrugging my shoulders like I would do as a human.

"Tornear and the other cats, I'll deal with you later. First we have to deal with her," he turned to me "the apprentice. We'll have to send you back at the gathering night."

"But I want to go back now!" I was sick of being told what to do. I didn't want to stay in Windclan for two whole days.

"We can't just send you back," he meowed, oddly calm "we can't just walk up to the border without provoking a fight." What he said made sense. Thunderclan would be furious.

"What will I do here?" I asked. I was willing to help out, if I was one more mouth to feed. "How can I help out?"

"Well, I don't want you learning to hunt."he didn't want me to teach thunderclan to hunt on this territory, and take them over "Can you help with apprentice chores?"

"Anything to earn my food." I wasn't going to starve. The crowd broke up.

The brown apprentice with bright blue eyes came up to me.

"Hi I'm Heatherpaw." She meowed sweetly. _Your Lionpaw's friend, or more than friend_ I thought to myself. I felt a strange emotion, was it jealousy? _No, its nothing._ I thought. Why would I be jealous of Heatherpaw?

"Hi, you probably know I'm Violetpaw." I meowed just as sweetly.

"I'll help you carry a rabbit to the elders." She ran down to a dip in the ground and I followed her. We both grabbed part of one rabbit and carried it to an old badger set.

"Hey there's an intruder, your not Windclan!" yowled an old she-cat elder as she glared at me. "How come you can't guard the camp anymore!" she lashed out at me but I shrank back. Heatherpaw blocked them, then she told the elders the whole story. Then they started asking me questions.

"How do you live under rattling trees all the time?" asked a very old tortoiseshell she-cat.

"Well," I replied the best I could "I like feeling enclosed, safe, guarded. The trees disguise me for hunting, and always provide cover." I had spoken the truth.

"Well I could never live trapped by trees, I prefer open land, and to sleep under the stars." She looked happy. Me and Heatherpaw headed into the middle of the camp.

"Hey, can you help me?" asked a short tailed brown tom "Kestrelpaw's already out getting herbs. Can you deliver this catmint to Breezepaw and Nightcloud? Heatherpaw will tell you where to go." He set four long stalks of catnip on the ground in front of me. I recognized it, because Marigold loves it. We have some growing in our back yard.

Then he ran off to a crack in one of the boulders._ They use catnip as a cure!_ I thought the Idea was a bit funny, but if it would help, I carried the stems to where Heatherpaw guided me.

I was standing in front of two black cats lying on the ground. Their noses and eyes were running and they had heat coming off them in waves, but they were shivering. I set two stalks in front of each of them. They ate them gratefully.

"I'll get some poppy seeds from Barkface." meowed Heatherpaw as she ran to the crack in the boulder. She returned heartbeats later with a leaf covered in tiny seeds. She gave each of them a portion of seeds, and then they fell asleep.

"Wow, those really work!" I meowed amused.

"You're telling me!" meowed Heatherpaw with a _mrrow_ of laughter.

"What are they sick with?" I asked Heatherpaw.

"Greencough, it can be deadly." She said sadly "But usually only in kits and elders." I perked up a little at that.

The next day in Windclan, was very different from Thunderclan. I usually helped out Barkface and the elders while Heatherpaw trained and hunted. Me and Her always shared a rabbit. No one else would even talk to me, except the elders who buried me with questions. I started to feel cold more often, but I thought it was just being in open territory.

"What do you mean he's gone?" I yelled at my little sister Kylie. I was back as a human, at the worst time possible.

"He left, gone to California, with his new girl freind, who hate us." She said softly back.

"He won't even see us anymore, or write?" I asked super confused.

"He cut off all ties and visitation rights." She barely even said it. I hugged her close and cried. Our father was gone. We'd never see him again. Everything was fine just yesterday. How could he leave us? We had grown up with him. He was our father for heavens sake! He lied to me. I was through with lies, even more now.

I was angry and sad. I didn't leave my room for days, not even for school. I threw things, I cried, I yelled at nothing. Mom gave me my meals at my bed room door, though I hardly ate them. Cousins and grandparents came, I was grateful to hug each one. But I realized I wanted to be away from this terrible human world. Then the next Saturday I decided to go outside to the loop.

I woke up at sunhigh after a nap I had, like a week earlier. I helped Heatherpaw with her chores and Kestrelpaw with his. That oddly made me happy. Working towards a goal that wasn't out of reach made me feel like I wasn't hopelessly lost.

We went to the gathering that night early so we wouldn't run into Thunderclan. I was secretly hoping we would. I wanted to see my friends, my mentor and everyone else again. Once we were over the log, Thunderclan came over. I ran to Hollypaw and all the other apprentices.

"Are you ok, did they starve you?" Hollypaw asked really fast.

"No, I'm fine, Onestar didn't plan it, Tornear did, so it wasn't Windclan's fault."

"Yeah, I know. Berrynose told us everything." I was shocked, Berrynose gave himself up.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he said his heart mended broken, after Honeypelt died, and he was foolish. He's been punished, by doing all our chores for a moon! We don't have to do any thing but train and hunt!" I was so happy, Berrynose was paying big time, and I benefited.

"Are you ok?" she asked surprised. I just realized I was shivering.

"You should see Leafpool when we get back." She suggested.

The leaders were in the tree.

"Windclan will begin this meeting." Onestar began "To Thunderclan we are deeply sorry for taking Violetpaw. My warriors need to know where they answer to. Otherwise the prey is running fine and all is well."

"All is forgiven. Berrynose was the real problem. He's been punished" he nodded forgiveness "Thunderclan have two new apprentices, Rosepaw and Toadpaw," Their faces lifted and light up "and five new kits. Wingkit, Streamkit, Hollowkit, Tanglekit and Sleepkit." Graystripe, the father of Millie's kits, looked very proud.

"Nothings new in Riverclan." added Leopardstar.

"The same in Shadowclan." Meowed Blackstar. Oddly I could tell Blackstar was lying. I felt huge booms, like with Berrrynose, the opposite of the jingle I felt when, I guess, Thunderstar gave me the power.

"Then this gathering is over." Yowled Firestar.

I oddly felt faint. As I struggled to get up to the tree bridge, I felt even fainter. I just wanted to lie down. I struggled to place every paw step to the middle of the fallen tree, and then I lost my footing. I blacked out before I hit the water.


	7. Chapter 6

I was so astonished at what just happened, as soon as I got out of the loop I went straight back in. I opened my eyes, lying down in Leafpool's den, on a nest of moss. It was so cold, I was shivering. Jaypaw was in front of me preparing some herbs I couldn't scent, because my nose and mouth were running.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked Jaypaw desperately.

"You have a cold, just a fever." he replied soundly. _A fever?_ I thought, I was freezing. All I felt from him was booming.

"Don't lie to me Jaypaw, I'm sick of lies." I meowed narrowing my eyes, although I knew he couldn't see me. I was sick of lies. Berrynose had lied to me all the time. He had told me nothing would happen the night I was taken. He told me to hunt on another clan's territory. He even lied to himself.

"You have whitecough." he meowed again, more shaky. More booming.

"Jaypaw!" I yowled at him with all my strength. I then collapsed my head on the nest.

"You have Greencough, okay!" he meowed looking sad, but clear frustration was in his voice.

"Starclan gave me a power to tell if someone's telling the truth or lying, so don't even try!" I yowled, now I was even more tired. I saw his ears perk up before I closed my eyes. I heard pawsteps.

"Hey, Jaypaw is she going to be all right, I'm worried about her." said a soft voice. The voice was Lionpaw's. I reached out with my power to him, expecting to hear booms, but I felt rapid jingling. He was telling the truth.

"She's asleep, she used all her energy yelling at me." replied Jaypaw.

"You lied to her didn't you; Hollypaw told me about that, she can…"

"I know she told me!" meowed Jaypaw softly. _How does Hollypaw…Oh right, the I-know-she-knows thing_. I thought silently.

"Lionpaw," I hadn't heard Leafpool walk in "could you leave for a moment; I want to talk to Jaypaw about Violetpaw." I could tell he was reluctant to leave, because he hesitated. When he was gone, Leafpool started meowing softly to Jaypaw.

"We are out of catmint. I went up to the abandoned twoleg nest to get some, but it was all gone. If we don't get some soon, she might die. We have to keep her away from everyone else, no visitors."

I started whimpering. I might lose my escape from my crappy life as a human. I might lose Hollypaw and all the other friends I made, and they would lose me.

"Oh no," Leafpool noticed I'd heard everything "I'm sorry you had to," she stopped. I knew it must be painful to say that a cat had heard that she could die.

"Jaypaw, go to Windclan, see if they have any catmint. She probably got it there." meowed Leafpool going into disaster mode. Leafpool ran behind Jaypaw, and they went different directions_. She must be even more determined now that I know_ I told myself. Leafpool must have told Firestar, because I heard Firestar call a meeting.

"Brambleclaw, Lionpaw and Ashfur, go To Riverclan and get as much catmint as you can, now!" I could see them all nod before running out, Lionpaw was the last out. He took a backward glance at me as I watched him go. _They must be getting it for anyone else who gets it,_ I thought _all that couldn't be for me. _

About an hour of Leafpool feeding me bitter herbs that didn't seem to help, Jaypaw came back. I couldn't smell catnip.

"They had none," he began, sounding as if I had died already "they used it all to treat their patients, _who are recovering nicely_." He added that last part sarcastically. Than he ran straight to me, he seemed just as determined as Leafpool. He gave me a sniff.

"How's she doing?" asked Jaypaw.

"Better." I felt booming. Leafpool didn't want to say it, but her face told me that my fever was getting worse, the herbs weren't working. I could also tell Jaypaw could tell. I felt terrible. My eyes, nose and mouth were running bad, and I felt as if I was swimming in the Arctic Circle. Leafpool had covered me with moss, but it didn't help. It seemed like ages until the patrol came back. I couldn't smell anything anymore. I could hear Lionpaw running to me, but he was blocked by Jaypaw.

"You can't come in!" meowed Jaypaw as Lionpaw laid something on the ground.

"That's it?" asked Jaypaw "It's only five stems."

"Their plant got blown away in a storm. This is all they had. They said it will come back next newleaf, and it's almost leafbare." explained Lionpaw.

"Tomorrow she'll need feverfew. Can you get her some at dawn? I want it fresh."

"Sure." I heard Lionpaw pad away to as near as he could get. I saw him watching me. Hollypaw walked up to him and told him to come to sleep. He took one last look at me then padded into the den with Hollypaw. _What was that?_ I asked myself. _I thought he was back to ignoring me?_

"Eat this." Jaypaw laid a stem of catnip in front of my nest. I sniffed it. It smelled irresistible, so I chewed as long as I could to remember the flavor, and then swallowed. _Now I know why Marigold loves this stuff I thought_. Then Jaypaw laid some poppy seeds in front of me, which I tried to pick up, but couldn't quite get it, so I just licked them. I fell right asleep.

The next day at school, one of Leo's jerky friends knocked my books out of hands and they hit the floor spreading out. Shania immediately helped my gather my stuff. One of my books slid across the hallway and landed near Leo's guy clique. He saw it and picked it up. He noticed me gathering my stuff and put two and two together and walked over to me.

"This is yours." He said as he handed it to me, making my head turn up. I hadn't expected it. I slowly took the book from his hands, staring at his face, looking shocked. He got up and walked away. His friends yelled at him and laughed at my reaction, but he walked right past them. Not only had I gained "A smart girls guide to money", I had gained Leo's respect.

When I got home I ran outside, but mom stopped me.

"Where are you going?"

"To look at the clouds." I lied.

"You haven't been doing that lately." she said with that I know your lying voice "You've been going in the statue and going through and through one of the loops, you want to tell me about that?

"Well," I began, playing with my fingers.

""Don't finish," mom interrupted "you still like the statue. I was thinking of getting rid of it."

"Don't!" I yelled panicked "I still love it, let me keep one thing of before!" I improvised.

"Okay, I won't get rid of it," she said in that _man, calm down_ voice "just, have fun." Then she walked inside. I felt a little stab of guilt that I couldn't tell mom. But I liked having at least one secret from mom. It made me feel like this was something she could never take away from me.

I zoomed trough the loop insanely happy, feeling great, then, wham! I was sick again.

"You're awake," meowed Leafpool, she seemed a little perkier.

"But it's still cold, and my face feels terrible." I added giving little energy and extra involuntary shivers.

"I'm just happy you woke up. Try not to use too much energy, you're still sick. Look, I'm sorry for telling you about the catmint, I,"

"It's okay," I made sure I interrupted "a lot of drastic chan…" I ran out of energy to talk. But I couldn't sleep. I had to get up. I tried, pulling my paws under me; I pushed up, wobbly, and managed one step, two, three, four… I could walk again!

"Hey!" meowed Leafpool amused as I tried to walk wobbly out of the den "You're still contagious, and you still have a fever, slow down on the healing." She brushed against my side and supported me, before I fell. She guided me back to the nest where I sat down.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Jaypaw walk in, carrying feverfew.

"Did Lionpaw bring you that?" I asked curious.

"Yeah, why do you what to know?" replied Jaypaw.

"Well, he seemed kind of off yesterday, he may have forgotten." I spilled the truth.

"Well now that you mention it," Jaypaw realized "he did seem off." then he let out a purr.

"What?" I asked with a _mrrow_ of laughter.

"Nothing." he said mischievously. I felt nothing but booms. This was a lie I thought he could keep.

* * *

**you know right! I do (dancing and giggling at your pain)**

**I'll update often, so be patient, if I make it up to three reveiws i'll add another chapter.**


	8. Chapter 7

"Hey, Violetpaw!" meowed Hollypaw from across the clearing "Good to see your better."

"Nice to be better, but I'm still quarantined, I can't leave the medicine den until sunhigh. Can you bring me some fresh-kill? I'm starving!" I asked Hollypaw.

She ran to the fresh-kill pile, selected and plump, juicy vole, hooked it on her claw, and tossed it to me.

"That's a great vole, for leafbare!" Now that it had gotten colder and the reddish leaves and deserted the trees, prey was small and stringy. But today was even more special. A blanket of snow fell over our forest, making it flawless. I could see it in camp.

"Yeah, I caught it this morning." I devoured it. I hadn't eaten in days.

"You'll be a warrior soon, you know." I said between bites.

"You will too." she replied.

"But I've missed more training than you." I wanted her to feel special.

"You were always ahead of me and Lionpaw,"

"Stop, you're great and deserve it, now be nice to the sick cat!" I meowed with a _mrrow_ of laughter.

"You always know how to make a sentence funny!" she meowed back. I noticed Lionpaw padding through the entrance with a couple of scrawny mice in his jaws. When he saw I was up and moving, he ran and deposited his kill on the pile, then ran up to me and Hollypaw.

"You allowed out yet?" he asked me as he sat next to Hollypaw, curling his tail over his paws.

"Not until sunhigh, but I feel a lot better. When I get out,"

"You're doing battle training with Lionpaw and Hollypaw." Brambleclaw finished my sentence. _I was going to say do you want to go hunting_, I thought as he angled toward us. He walked over, but didn't sit down.

"I've asked Ashfur and Brackenfur to take over your training today. I have some things to do." Then he padded away as quickly as he came. We all watched, surprised and he walked out he camp with Cloudtail, Brightheart (a white and ginger cat, missing an eye), and Whitewing.

I figured they would be hunting all day, since the snow had begun to fall, their white pelts would disguise them best. _Why is Brambleclaw going?_ I thought. _Oh, he's hunting in the trees, where he's disguised best_ I thought.

"So, do you have any clue why Jaypaw's been extra grumpy lately?" I asked. He had been super, extra, insanely grumpy, while I was sick.

"No idea. But I do know that Lionpaw's been blushing for the last ten minutes." she teased her brother.

"Oooooo, who is it?" I enjoyed making fun of this tom, whose ears were indeed turning the color of holly berries. I_t must be Poppytail, I don't know why, but it probably is,_ I thought he searched for an answer.

"Um," he tried to begin.

"Hi!" Wingkit piped in. She had been very energetic lately. She was coming to the medicine den every day now to see me.

"Hi Wingkit." We all said in unison. She started stalking Lionpaw's tail, like it was prey. Lionpaw tried to move it out of her reach, but she pounced on it to quickly.

"Wingkit!" Millie looked relieved and scared. She must not have known where Wingkit was. "Come back here! Let go!" she wasn't letting go. Lionpaw squealed like a newborn kit.

"When some one squeals _we let go!_" Millie ran to Wingkit, picked her up by the scruff, as she released Lionpaw's tail, and then carried her back to the nursery.

"She's been trailing after us, waiting to know if your better so you can play with her, she really likes you." Hollypaw added after they were safely out of earshot.

"Who do you like?" I asked Lionpaw, making fun of him.

"Um, it's…" he began.

"Violetpaw!" it was Leafpool.

"What?" Lionpaw was shocked, and panicked.

"Um, Violetpaw, you're free to go." she was looking at Lionpaw funny. I immediately ran past Lionpaw and Hollypaw, and ran in circles around the clearing, which ran me right into Lionpaw.

"Hey!" he meowed with laughter in his voice. Then he lunged at me, claws seethed and we tussled until the our clanmates complained

"Go practice in the training hollow, for starclan's sake!" meowed Mousefur, the wiry brown elder, annoyed. Once she said that, we were pretty much uninterested in battling. Then Hollypaw came to join us.

Unfortunately for me and Lionpaw, Brackenfur and Ashfur padded over to us, and walked us to battle training. They had decided to do a two on one fight, assuming I would lose so they could tell me what I did wrong.

"Okay, go!" yowled Ashfur. Lionpaw and Hollypaw both ran at me, curving around me, at once, trying to come at me from both sides.

I remembered, when I was back at home, my cousin, Amanda, and her two older brothers were on the trampoline. They both came at her, to pick her up and throw her, from both sides. She jumped up and, while she was in mid air, they ran into each other, and she came down on top of them.

I imitated her move, leaping up as far as I could go, they ran into each other, and I, mirroring Amanda, came down on both of them.

"That was brilliant!" yowled Ashfur and Brackenfur as I climbed off them. _Thank you Amanda!_ I thought silently to Amanda, back at home.

"Genius!" meowed Lionpaw, purring. I could tell he wasn't even thinking of Heatherpaw or Poppytail anymore. I had no idea why he just forgot them all of a sudden.

"Hi Violetpaw!" we were all shocked when Wingkit appeared from behind a fern on the edge of the hollow.

"Wingkit! Why are you here?" I asked sternly.

"I came to play with you!" she replied with a bounce. I picked her up by her scruff immediately. She thrashed a little, and then looked at me. She was clearly sad, and ashamed. I didn't want to add to that, so I made sure my eyes were clouded with sympathy. I carried her all the way to camp, and padded into the nursery without stopping.

"Wingkit! Oh, thank you Violetpaw!" Meowed a relieved Millie and I set Wingkit down. The tabby queen, nuzzled her pale grey daughters fur, so happy. Then her happiness faded and she pulled away.

"You're in big trouble, go to sleep!" she meowed very sternly. She motioned with her tail for me to stay, and then after the little kit's breathing was in the steady rhythm of sleep, she turned to me.

"Could I ask a favor from you?" asked Millie.

"Sure what can I do for you?"

"Wingkit seem to only listen to you. I love her so much, but I can't seem to get control of her. Could you watch her for today, and tomorrow?"

It seemed like babysitting to me, which I was really good at. So I nodded very happily. She looked so relieved.

"I'm asking Hollypaw to take care of Streamkit, Rosepaw's taking care of Hollowkit. I'm asking Lionpaw to take care of Tanglekit, and I'm asking Icepaw to take care of Sleepkit, by the way her hearing's getting better."

"Why do you need us?" I asked. Queens usually never left the nursery.

"All the queens are taking a day off. We're going hunting, seeing the territory again, and brushing up on our battling." It sounded fair. Daisy and Millie needed some outside time. Being shut up in one den all day must be very boring.

The next day had come. All the babysitting apprentices were in line in the middle of camp. Then the queens and kits all filed out of the nursery, for their day of freedom.

"Okay Hollowkit, go stand by Rosepaw," Hollowkit ran up to Rosepaw, touched noses with her happily, then sat next to her, like a new apprentice "Sleepkit, Icepaw, Tanglekit, Lionpaw, Streamkit, Hollypaw, Wingkit, Violetpaw." She called out to the kits. Wingkit ran up to me and sat next to me, mirroring the way I was sitting. I felt kind of sorry for Tanglekit; he was the only tom kit in the bunch.

Me and the other apprentice babysitters had developed a sort of plan. First we were having a scavenger hunt, next we were having a huge mock-clans game, then each sitter would take the day to play freely with his or her charges.

"Okay! Guess what?" I meowed to all the kits.

"What?" they all meowed enthusiastically in unison.

"We're having a big scavenger hunt. So you'll be ready to find things around camp when you're apprentices. You need to bring everything on the list to your sitters. You all need to find me some moss, a twig, a feather and a poppy seed."

I had already asked Jaypaw to lay out enough poppy seeds for the kits to take. I glanced over to the medicine den to see that Jaypaw had laid five poppy seeds evenly apart in the den.

"Ready, set," the kits had already stepped up to the starting line we set in the snow "Go!" I watched as the kits scrambled through the snow to different places in camp. I sat in a line with the other sitters, waiting for Wingkit to bring me her haul.

Five minutes later Wingkit placed her last item, the poppy seed, in front of my paws. She had won the contest. Tanglekit came in second, followed by Hollowkit, in third.

"Great job!" I yowled sitting on half rock. I didn't count on being a sort of leader, but it just kind of fell into place. The other sitters elected me, without saying anything. It just sort of happened.

"Now guess what we're doing?" I fake asked to the kits. Some of the camp had come to watch the kit games, as I called them, so we weren't alone.

"What?" all the kits meowed.

"I am Shadowstar, evil leader of Shadowclan, and this is my deputy, Lionclaw, face defeat!" The kits started laughing joyfully.

"You all are Wingstar, Leader of Thunderclan, because she won the contest, Tanglestar, leader of Windclan, and Hollowstar, leader of Riverclan. Choose your deputy's."

"My deputy is Streamheart!" yowled Wingkit, standing next to her sister Streamkit.

"Mine is Sleepdream!" yowled Hollowkit louder, next to her proud sister Sleepkit.

"Hey, I don't have one!" whimpered Tanglekit. I had planned for this. I noticed Toadpaw sunning himself on top of a shelf of rock in the camp.

"Toadpaw!" he jumped then looked at me.

"You want to play?"

"Sure! What do I got to do?"

"Be Tanglekit's deputy."

He jumped down from the ledge and ran to Tanglekit.

"Mine is Toad… Toad… Toadface!" We all let out a snort of laughter.

"Cool!" exclaimed Toadpaw. He was happy to be playing.

"My clan is the sitters, Icepelt, Rosepetal, Hollyfrost, and Lionclaw." I noticed their ears perk up. They apparently liked their names.

"We outnumber you!" meowed Streamkit.

"No you don't!" meowed Hollowkit.

"Not if we all work together!" meowed Wingkit. She huddled all the kits, and Toadpaw, and made a plan. Then she turned to me.

"You will never win Shadowstar!" she exclaimed.

"Try and stop us!" yowled Lionpaw.

All the kits attacked their sitters, their little claws seethed. I let Wingkit pin me down after a short tussle, then all the sitters did the same.

"We won!" meowed Wingkit. _She seems to be a little me!_ I thought amused. _Maybe Firestar will let we mentor her._

"Shadowclan!" I heard Whitewing yowl. I assumed She was kidding, then I saw the look on her face.

"Get the kits into the nursery, Lionpaw stand guard!" I didn't know where this was coming from. I just went into disaster mode. He nodded and herded up the protesting kits. I nodded to Hollypaw, and she got Firestar, who assumed Whitewing was kidding.

Disaster time.


	9. Chapter 8

"How many?" Firestar yowled at Whitewing.

"At least half the clan," she meowed out of breath. Firestar noticed Lionpaw guarding the nursery, and Rosepaw alerting Jaypaw. He looked at me and I nodded. He new I had organized this.

"Everyone get ready, exit!" he yowled as cats flooded out of the camp. Everyone released a battle cry. Mine was,

"OFF!" I had no idea why. I seemed fun. We met Shadowclan, about fifteen feet from the border. I saw Blackstar and Russetfur standing with their cats.

"Leafbare finally drove you to the edge?" yowled Firestar, his eyes burning.

"Get off our new territory!" yowled Blackstar.

"This is our territory!" countered Firestar "I will fight to the death for it!" with a flick of his tail, he launched us into battle. We met the wave of reeking Shadowclan cats in a dip in the ground.

Hollypaw was on my right side, Lionpaw on my left, we charged into battle. We met six huge toms first. They ran at each of us, like that day in battle training.

When I landed on my two, I had my claws out and raking their backs, tearing skin and fur, while biting their necks and tails. They ran off scared back to Shadowclan. I stared at Lionpaw's two, and he was struggling.

I ran to one of his toms and slashed and bit, taking a few scratches in the process. They both pelted through the snow back to Shadowclan. Hollypaw had already taken care of her's. So we ran some more. We arrived at a cat I recognized from the gathering, Rowanclaw.

"Get off!" I yowled. He began chasing me. I led him right to where Lionpaw and Hollypaw were waiting to slash his side with their claws. It was over in about ten minutes, and we won. The only dead cat in the clearing was a Shadowclan cat. It was Russetfur. It wasn't until after the battle did I feel the pain. All my scratches stung, and my tail hurt. I winced when Jaypaw healed me.

"Hey guess what!" Hollypaw began super exited as I walked out of the medicine den "We're going to be warriors, all three of us!" then our eyes got wide. I jumped up for joy.

Everyone seemed confused, and then Hollypaw realized it was in a human behavior, and she started jumping too, to make me seem less stupid. Then Lionpaw joined in, then Rosepaw padded over, and seeing us bounce, started too bounce with us.

"Why are we jumping?" she asked as she bounced. Then Toadpaw came over, then Icepaw, then Foxpaw. All the apprentices, except Jaypaw were giddily bouncing.

Next, Sorreltail came over looking puzzled, and then joined in. Then Wingkit, and all the other kits and queens came out of the nursery, and bounced along side us. Cats started pouring out of the warriors to den to join in on the fun. Pretty soon, most all the camp, including Jaypaw, was giddily bouncing, despite our injuries. Then we saw Firestar walk over, but oddly none of us stopped. Then he joined in, looking like this was the most fun he'd had in years.

This made me realize something_. If I started this bouncy thing, and Firestar joined in, I affected the clan, one cat, all because I was human._ I could do great things if I tried. I was ready.

The hunting patrol walked in. They had been sent out to get food for the healing cats. They were stopped I their tracks. This must have been the most unusual thing they'd ever seen. Then we all stopped, every one of us, and collapsed in laughter at the same moment.

"Well, I see the camp's alright, for the most part." It was Cloudtail who spoke.

"I see we're all in need of the good prey we caught." Brightheart added. I had just noticed, each of their jaws were stuffed full of scrawny prey.

"Who started that?" asked Firestar still laughing a little.

"Violetpaw!" said Hollypaw loudly. I covered my trembling paws with my tail, feeling my ears get hot. I was terrified. I don't do well in front of superiors.

"Well you're certainly good at leading a crowd!" he replied, before padding back to his den. That was an amazing compliment. Being told you're a good leader, by the clan leader, was amazing.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highlege for a clan meeting!" everyone started padding drowsily to the clearing. Lionpaw, me and Hollypaw took our seats right under Highlege. We watched Firestar pad down from the ledge, to stand in front of us.

"I, Firestar, leader of Thunderclan, called upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these three apprentices." he began the ceremony "They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Lionpaw, Hollypaw and Violetpaw, do promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this clan, even at cost of your lives?" he asked us.

We all meowed yes as loud as we could muster, being nervous and all.

"Then from now on you shall be known as Lionclaw, Hollyfrost, and Violetstorm. You will be honored for your courage and leadership you've shone today."

I was screaming on the inside as I licked his shoulder as he touched my head with his nose. I again, got a very cool name. Life was good.

"Hey, Ivy!" I heard Leo yell at me from across the hall, completely ignoring his guy clique. I had just noticed he was really gorgeous. He seemed very mysterious, and mystical.

"Hey Leo!" I yelled back happily. I had decided to become friends with him. Then he blushed. His face turned redder than roses. I could hear the girls around me giggling, but he didn't seem fazed by them. Shania was taking notes in her head; she did that often, nowadays. She had become interested in the story of my life, although she didn't know about half of it.

"Do you, do you…" I was puzzled he seemed more nervous than a five year old with stage fright.

"Do I?" I asked long and slow.

"Do you… want to…"

"Step by step, we can say the sentence, come on," I was enjoying his sacredness.

"Do you… want to…go…to…"

Shania was getting impatient.

"Come on! Spit it out!" she yelled at him, she had a _very_ short temper. He didn't seem to hear her. He was staring at me.

"Doyouwanttogotothewinterdancewithme?" he, apparently, asked. Everyone within earshot burst out in laughter, even the teachers, except me.

"Hugh?" I was perplexed "I didn't get a word of that."

"Do you want to go to the winter dance with me?" I was stunned. He seemed so distant.

"Yes, okay." I replied still stunned. He walked away, to his next class. I fainted.

When I woke up, Mrs. Mariner was standing over me with about my entire homeroom class. I saw Leo immediately, then Shania, then all the others.

"She's awake!" yelled Mrs. Mariner in her crazy, relieved way. She was the crazy tree-hugger, clog-wearing, awesome science teacher. She was also my first period class. I quickly ran up to my seat and sat down. I took out my reading book and began reading like I was interested.

Disaster mode.


	10. Chapter 9

Spinning and swirling of deep purple fabric waved at my ankles. My dance dress was drop-dead gorgeous. The winter dance, at my school, was like prom. My dress was deep purple, with gold and silver swirls coating the edges. It had long sleeves that hooked on my middle finger. I even got my mom to embroider gold and silver leaves falling down the skirt. I looked perfect, _let's hope Leo looks as perfect, _I stopped before I continued.

I wasn't about to be sucked into a popular girls mind. He could arrive at my door in sweats for all I cared. I was just happy to be going, with Leo. Shania was going with her boyfriend, Nick.

At the winter dance certain couples were awarded crowns. One couple got tiny crowns, the duke and Duchess, the next up was prince and princess, slightly larger crowns, and the king and queen, with a hanging tiara and a big gold and red painted crown. Everyone always wanted to be king or queen, but it didn't matter to me. I had a great life. I was a warrior; I had great friends, and a strong clan to support me. I quickly changed out of my dress, and ran through the loop.

"Where are they?" I yelled hotly at Icepaw. I was sorry to snap at her but this was just heart wrenching.

"I don't know,"

"Well when did you last see them!"

"Last night, with you,"

"Two siblings just don't miraculously disappear at the same time!"

"Calm down," it was Brambleclaw, my former mentor "Violetstorm, they'll come back, just wait, and stop yelling at Icepaw."

"It's just Lionclaw and Hollyfrost are my closest friends. We picked out places in the warriors den together," I didn't finish. I ran out of camp, ignoring Brambleclaw's yowl of surprise. I pelted through the forest, searching for any sign of them. They had just disappeared in the night, while I was human, or sleeping. No sign of them was found, but I'm sure they weren't even trying. They thought they just walked out. I scented the air, catching no sign of them. Then I ran some more, faintly catching their scent. I ran toward the scent.

I found myself in a clearing I'd seen before, but hadn't been to in a long time. I found then, scratched and broken, gashes covering them. Lionclaw had a deep gash I his throat. Hollyfrost's tail was savagely chewed, each were soaked in blood. I saw their tails twitch, which told me they were still alive. I stood there in horror for a moment or two. Then ran back to camp and got Jaypaw.

He, to stared in horror a moment or two. Then he began franticly gathering herbs and trying to heal his littermates. We had to stay all night, not saying a word. There was nothing we could say.

"What did you do!" Jaypaw yowled angrily at me. _He thinks I did this,_

"Nothing but find you!" I was bristling furiously. He had the nerve to expect me. I reached out to see if he was lying, but I felt rapid jingling. He was dead serious. I was appalled, he never trusted me, even when he healed me. He was wary of me, from my first gathering.

"How could you not trust me? I,"

"Oh, Violetstorm," sympathy and understanding was burning in his eyes "I didn't expect you. I didn't trust you when you first came her, but when you could tell if I was lying, you, I new you belonged here." I leaned on him, for support.

"I was asking you, what you did when you saw them, the cats who attacked them."

"They were already gone,"

We stayed there for about a week, me coming in and out of the loop with sleep, it was too risky to move them. Cats came and went, bring prey, herbs, kindness, and one apology. Brambleclaw was sorry for not caring. Lionclaw and Hollyfrost got better and better. One day they began talking again.

"They came, so many, not from any clan," Hollyfrost began, but didn't finish. When Lionclaw regained consciousness, he was so happy to see me. He brushed his pelt with mine, and sat next to me. I oddly felt happy and warm next to him, so I intertwined my tail with his.

Then it hit me like a rock, I loved Lionclaw. I not just loved him, but was _in love_ with him. I looked into his eyes, only to find his orange eyes looking into my violet ones.I saw a deep train of thought, and a fire full of love. I knew he loved me too. I laid my head into his shoulder, burying my nose in his fur. I knew I loved him, but we both knew I wouldn't have kits any time soon; I was barely a warrior, not at all ready to be a queen.

"How cute," a menacing voice from the shadows stopped us all cold "two love-birds, sitting in a clearing with friends." We all jumped and bristled. We didn't recognize this cat. He was huge, yellow with black blotches.

"I've killed your leader and deputy, all the leaders and deputies; you're mine now, my clan, one clan, Banan's clan." I lashed out at him, and he hit me with a huge paw knocking me unconscious.

I was about to immediately run back through the loop, but my mom stopped me.

"Ivy come on get changed!" I took a last look at the loop, thinking of a dead Firestar, Blackstar, Brambleclaw, Leopardstar, Mistyfoot, Onestar and Ashfoot. Then went back to the house worried, then I forgot what I was worrying about. I completely forgot. It left my brain as I quickly changed into my dress.

I stood in the crowd with Leo, holding hands. He didn't arrive in sweats, but a tux. They had just announced Duke and Duchess; someone named Kate and Logan, Then Price and Princess was Shania and Nick, yeah! Now they were announcing King and Queen, but I wasn't listening.

Me and Leo were staring at each other, with arms around each other's necks, dancing to the slow song with everyone else. We moved in closer to each other, so close to kissing, then a spotlight hit us.

I put my hand over my eyes to keep the light out of my face. Everyone was clapping and staring at us. I saw Shania on stage, and her eyebrows went up.

We were King and queen. I tugged Leo's hand as we ran onstage, even though he was running as excitedly as me. It was like a scene strait out of a movie.

We stood next to each other on the stage as they crowned us. I could feel the girl pinning the hanging tiara to my straitened chestnut hair, the cold metal on my forehead. The crown of the queen was supposed to be what's in style, and hanging tiaras were all the rage.

Then I turned to Leo, and he turned to me. I barley even looked at the big plastic crown on his head, I was looking at his eyes, the silver of them was mesmerizing.

"Go on, kiss her!" yelled the Kate girl. Then he leaned in closer to me, and we kissed. It's hard to put the feelings into words, with a roar of applause in your ears, it's magical. Then I remembered, Banan's clan, but forgot it again, I was happy. Only after the dance had ended, and I was dropped off at the door, did I remember.

I ran out to the backyard with my dress still on, near tears. I bolted through the loop, and the blackness came. I found myself asleep, in the middle of camp, with Banan on the Highlege.

"Welcome, to Banan's clan."

* * *

on, don don! end of book one, but another is comeing very soon, called Banan's clan! I'll update as soona s possible.


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